


What Happens at the Mabari Park

by kc_evans



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Because I'm on a fluff kick, Did I mention fluff?, F/M, Fluff, The mabari need more love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2015-05-15
Packaged: 2018-03-30 12:01:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3936016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kc_evans/pseuds/kc_evans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen meets an interesting woman at the mabari play park.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Happens at the Mabari Park

**Author's Note:**

> Un-betaed. No copyright infringement intended.

For the first time in two weeks, Cullen brought his mabari to the play park and snapped the leash off, grinning as he watched Hero dash off to greet his friends with a bark and a friendly roll on the grass. 

The park was really a large fenced in grassy area for the mabari to roam free. Most, if not all, of the city’s mabari owners knew each other from here because it was the only place the dogs were allowed without a leash. It became a bonding place not only for the mabari, but their humans as well. Cullen headed over to where his friends congregated who greeted him with a chorus of hellos. They stood there, chatting and making remarks about their dogs when Hawke suddenly nudged him, looking over at the gate.

“Look at the newbie.”

Cullen and everyone else glanced over and watched the woman lean down to unclip the leash and talk to the mostly black mabari, gesturing to the other dogs playing. When it tried to escape through the gate instead, she blocked the way and made another shooing gesture, this time with urgency. The mabari ignored the motion and ran for another part of the fence where there was a hole large enough to poke its nose through but nothing more. Cullen winced when the woman ran after the mabari, ordering it to back away to no avail.

This continued on for the next twenty minutes. The mabari would try to escape and the woman chased after it with exasperation. At first, it had been amusing to simply watch the poor woman trying to control the strong-willed animal because it was evident she had no idea what she was doing. But eventually, Cullen felt bad for her because she was trying - and failing miserably. He knew it, she knew it, and the misbehaving mabari knew it.

The regulars around him snickered and talked about her inexperience in snide tones; after all, an undisciplined mabari made the entire community look bad. But Cullen admired how she stoutly ignored their pointed glances, condescending tones, and even the outright pointing, still desperately trying to bring her dog to heel. The mabari ignored her, as it did all her other commands, and started digging at the fence.

Finally unable to keep watching the mounting frustration in her body language, Cullen slanted Hawke a disapproving look for laughing with the others before striding over to the woman. She had given up on chasing after the mabari and simply stood there, watching it with a helpless sort of expression that tugged on his heart. “Can I help with anything?” Cullen asked.

The look she flashed him was openly hostile because she obviously knew she had been the butt of the jokes for the past twenty minutes. But despite the scowl marring her face, she was remarkably pretty. Long, straight blond hair kept loose to frame the oval of her face, hazel eyes that looked straight at him fearlessly, small touches of makeup at her lashes, cheeks, and mouth, golden skin touched by the sun, and a lithe body dressed in casual jeans, a striped sweater, and a light jean jacket. “I’m fine, thanks,” she said shortly.

“All right, sure.” Cullen remained quiet for a moment, choosing to stick his hands on his pockets in a gesture that Dorian said always made him look boyish and charming. “It’s just that most mabari don’t try to escape the dog park like yours is doing.”

“She’s not - oh fu-.” She cut herself off and mumbled another set of curse words under her breath that Cullen had never heard of before. “Stop that!”

When she started after the mabari who, by then, had managed to dig a sizeable hole in the dirt in an effort to tunnel its way out, Cullen followed along. He was intrigued by the woman and a little more than curious as to what was going on. No mabari would so squarely ignore the commands of someone they imprinted on, so the dog was either stolen or she was watching it for someone.

The woman reached the mabari who was half stuck in the ground in an attempt to escape, and grabbed it by the collar barely visible under the tunnel. “Stop this,” she hissed at the dog. She then transferred another scowl at Cullen. “And you had better not be laughing at me.”

Cullen held his hands up in surrender, lips twitching in an attempt to hide a smile. “I wouldn’t dare.” He leaned back to admire the woman’s backside and the small sliver of skin that appeared as her shirt and jacket rode up as she bent over.

“And stop staring at my ass,” she muttered without looking up. Tugging harder at the collar but obviously hesitant in not wanting to hurt the mabari, she finally gave up as the dog whined and strained against the hold. Straightening herself, she clapped her hands free of any dirt and slanted Cullen a speculative glance. “You wanted to help? Stop her from running away.”

Cullen couldn’t resist the challenge she issued and he grinned. “Tell me your name and I will.”

“Oh, you’re good,” she said with grudging admiration. Shrugging, she stuck her hand out. “Evelyn.”

“Cullen.” He shook her hand, unsurprised to find her grip warm and strong. Evelyn seemed the type of woman to have a firm handshake. “So what’s your mabari’s name?”

Evelyn grimaced. “Daisy.”

Cullen coughed politely. “Daisy?”

“I didn’t name her,” she said defensively. “My brother did. I’m just dog-sitting for him.”

That would explain why Daisy was so keen on escaping. Wherever her owner was, she wanted to be with him. Cullen grinned again and nudged her aside. “Please, allow me.”

Snorting in derision, Evelyn offered him an exaggerated bow and took two giant steps sideways so he had free access to Daisy, who seemed the industrious type. His own mabari, Hero, was the complete opposite, content to laze around all day if there was nothing to do. Of course, Daisy was probably younger, hardly a year old, and not quite used to separation from her partner.

Keeping that thought in mind, Cullen decided the best way to coax the mabari from her break-out plan was to offer comfort and understanding. He squatted close to the wriggling hindquarters and called out softly, “Daisy!”

Daisy, of course, was much too smart to think that Cullen’s deep voice was possibly her owner’s, but he could tell she was listening by the sudden stilling of her body. Taking advantage of her responding to him, Cullen patted her rump affectionately. “Come on out, girl. What are you doing there in the dirt? You know you’re going to need a bath when you get home.”

Whining, probably at the idea of a bath, Daisy began wriggling again, more frantically this time. Cullen chuckled. “That’s only going to make it worse, you know. Come on back, sweet girl. You know you’re supposed to wait.”

More whining and more wriggling. Cullen could see the tip of her black nose appearing on the other side of the fence, sniffing the air for any sign of her owner. He poured sympathy into his voice as he said, “I know, you want to go to him. But he said to wait, didn’t he? Aren’t you going to be a good mabari and obey?”

Daisy made a little crying noise of distress but she stopped the digging movements. Cullen, in a soothing gesture, resumed patting her rump. “Good girl. Come on back. Auntie Evelyn is just trying to help you.”

Although it took a few more minutes of coaxing and a promise of a treat, Cullen eventually managed to get Daisy out of the ditch and back onto the play yard. By then, a few other mabari wandered over, curious to see what the newcomer was up to. Among them was Hero, who gave Cullen a puzzled bark.

“Be nice to her,” he told Hero. “She misses her owner.”

Hero made a noise of commiseration before speaking to Daisy in a series of barks. With a resigned air, Daisy responded back and trotted after the rest of the mabari pack.

“Well, how about that,” Evelyn said, hands on her hips as she stared at them leave. “I’ve been trying to get her to play with the other dogs for a half hour, and here you come and make her do just that in five minutes. What’s your secret?”

Cullen shrugged. “Mabari owner for six years. I grew up with them, too. And you just have to understand that she really misses your brother. When a mabari and her owner are separated, it’s terrible on the dog more than the human. Sad, but that’s the way it is.”

“So my brother said, but I guess I didn’t realize it was going to be this bad. She won’t eat or play with her toys. She just lays around whining. I had to force her out of the house today. I thought she might feel better being around other mabari.”

“Yeah, it’ll be tough until he gets back. How long will your brother be gone for?”

Pursing her lips in thought, Evelyn seemed to do some mental counting. “Another three weeks. How am I going to survive for that long?” she groaned.

Cullen couldn’t help giving her a sympathetic smile. “You can do it. Look, she’s playing right now, and if you talk to her firmly but with compassion, she’ll eat. You just have to remind her you’re in charge until your brother gets back.” When Evelyn didn’t look convinced, he added, “If you want, we can meet here every day and have Hero help out. He’s been through the whole separation thing and it might make it easier on Daisy to have another mabari around who won’t let her wallow in her misery.”

“Are you sure?” Evelyn slanted him a sideways glance. “I don’t want to impose or anything.”

“It’s not a problem,” he assured her. “I don’t live too far from here and Hero could always use the exercise. I don’t take him out as often as I should, and he loves playing.”

She wanted to, Cullen could tell, but Evelyn still hesitated. “I don’t know if I can do this,” she said again, shifting her gaze towards Daisy.

“You can,” he said, injecting firmness into his voice. “I’ll help.”

This time, there was suspicion as she narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re not doing this to hit on me, are you? Because you can ask me out but I’ll say no.”

Cullen had to laugh. “I wouldn’t mind asking you out, but I promise to keep this strictly mabari related.” He held up his fingers in a V. “Scout’s honor.”

Folding her arms across her chest, Evelyn gave him a measured look. “Were you were really a Boy Scout when you were younger?”

“Long enough to not take the promise lightly,” he said.

She seemed to think it over in her head and Cullen glanced over to make sure the other mabari were treating Daisy well. He noticed Hero staying close to her and looked back at Evelyn who must have realized the same thing. Daisy, while not exactly frolicking around like many other mabari, at least seemed to be communicating with the others.

“Fine,” she said finally. “I’ll take your word for it. Give me your number and I’ll text you.”

They exchanged digits and Evelyn slanted him one last appraising look before whistling for Daisy. When that didn’t work, she blew out an exasperated breath and marched over to the mabari, grabbing her by the collar and ignoring the whimpering. Cullen watched her clip the leash back on and all but drag her out of the dog park, unable to fight the grin from forming on his face.

“So that looked like it went well,” Hawke said when he finally rejoined the other mabari owners congregated at the opposite end of the fence. “I saw you got her number. Did you use that smooth Rutherford charm to ask her out?”

“No, that is absolutely forbidden,” Cullen said, opting to take the question seriously instead of the tease it was meant to be. “We’re just going to have play dates until Daisy’s owner gets back.”

Hawke raised her brows. “Um, Daisy?” she said, wrinkling her nose at the unorthodox name.

Cullen grinned. “Evelyn’s brother named her. She still seems untrained, actually, and quite young to be separated from her partner. He’s probably a new mabari owner. You know, loved the idea of owning one until all the responsibilities hit you square in the gut.” A frown furrowed on Cullen’s brow as he watched Hero whine at the loss of his friend, snuffing the grass in a half-hearted attempt to find her scent and follow the trail.

Hawke nodded, her gaze falling on Hero as well. “Well, good luck with the newbie. And good luck with Hero. Do you think mabari fall in love at first sight or something?”

Groaning at the thoughtful but loaded question, Cullen decided it was time he left, too. He had to get ready for work anyway. “Come on, boy!” he called, and Hero reluctantly shuffled over. As Cullen snapped on his collar, he gave the mabari a fond ruffle on the head. “Don’t be glum, boy, we’ll see them tomorrow. Okay?”

“Bye, Hero,” Hawke said. “Bye, Cullen. Let me know how your date goes.”

“It’s not a date,” he grumbled and headed out of the dog park. But even as he denied the idea, Cullen knew he was already looking forward to tomorrow.


End file.
